Sabe it: Will the Ho Train get back on the tracks?
Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 10:35 pm by Vizzini
NoMaas was skeptical of the Chan Ho Park signing. From a statistical standpoint, it looked like the Yankees were latching onto a small sample size (~50IP) where Park both pitched reasonably well (2.2 K/BB) and also got lucky (6% HR/FB). But, Brian Cashman's scouts told him that Chan Ho was a different pitcher in relief. Cash said Relief Ho had a "plus-fastball and a snap-dragon breaking ball" coming out of the pen.
So, how's it looking so far?
On the surface, it's been an unmitigated disaster. Even after pitching two scoreless innings on Tuesday night vs. Seattle, Chan Ho has a 6.48 ERA in 25 IP. And to the Yankee fan watching game in game out, it seems even worse than that because Park has blown up in some key high-leverage situations.
But, there are reasons to think Cashman might not end up wiping egg drop soup off his face come October.
First, underneath Relief Ho's grotesque ERA lies a 4.10 xFIP (before Tuesday night) -- pretty much the same as in his triumphant 2009 season. In fact, he has an excellent 3.2 K/BB ratio, and we wouldn't be surprised to see him improve on his 40% groundball rate. His HR/FB rate is an unlucky 19.4%, and that will come down towards his career average (12.2%). Consequently, he will likely start stranding at least 70% of his runners, instead of the current 63%.
Also important to note is that his putrid outcomes have been exacerbated by two things that will hopefully change for the better:
1) He hasn't been fully healthy this season. He's dealt with a hamstring problem that forced him to the DL, as well as a case of the backdoor trots.
2) We've seen Joe Girardi fail to properly mind bullpen matchups before, and Chan Ho is parked squarely in Joe's blind spot. Girardi has used CHP to face about as many lefty batters as righties this season (51 PAs to 53 PAs), and LHB are teeing off on Park to the tune of a .383/.420/.660 line. STUPID!
Overall, the Ho Train is not the diamond in the rough that Cashman was hoping he had found. But, he's also not the national tragedy he's looked like to date. One cannot strike out nearly 7.5 MLB batters per nine innings, maintain an above-average K/BB rate, and suck. Going forward, expect Relief Ho to have better moments and be at least the average bullpen piece that he's being paid to be.
Tags: bullpen, no girlfriend, the ho train
NoMaas is wrong. You are using a small sample size of this season to say that Chan Ho Park is good. He sucks.
Curtis Granderson got two hits against a lefty, that doesn’t mean he is good versus lefties! Small Sample Size! He sucks!
Joba Chamberlain is a failed starting pitcher because he started for us and sucked. So he is a reliever. Forever.
Stop using small sample sizes. Come on guys. And what is it with xFip and WQRSTUP!? Who cares! I watch this guy pitch and play he sucks!
I also enjoy the company of hairy men.
A-Bomb?
I don’t like Joe Thunder anymore :-(
Would it really hurt the yankees brass to have him grow back the beard?
Again, the first post was not mine. Some joker by the name of Penis thinks he’s cute. Truth be told though, Park sucks and needs to be DFA’d immediately.
Back on Track? Back on track? I tell ya. You imply this guy was on the track in the first place! Are you kidding me? Back on track?
This guy sucks! I get no respect I tell ya. In highschool I had to share my locker with a mop.
When it takes 4 paragraphs to try and explain why someone might be good or to try and justify them being here it’s pretty simple to see it just means they suck.
“Going forward, expect Relief Ho to have better moments and be at least the average bullpen piece that he’s being paid to be.”
LOLOLOLOL going forward? I never want to see this turd on the mound ever again and you talk about going forward LOLOLOLOL The guys stinks maybe you can give billy beane and theo Epstein a hard-on by talking like this but we all know Park is garbage.
His only use is to be in a blowout game and to give up more runs to make sure it remains a blowout.
Girardi’s bullpen management this season has left much to be desired.
Girardi has used CHP to face about as many lefty batters as righties this season (51 PAs to 53 PAs), and LHB are teeing off on Park to the tune of a .383/.420/.660 line. STUPID!
Isn’t this b/c Park mostly throws mop-up? Girardi isn’t doing anything to mitigate his platoon disadvantages b/c he’s in there when it doesn’t really matter.
Here are the run differentials when he’s entered the game for his last 11 appearances:
6-7-0-1-4-5-5-1-4-3-5
The tie game was the 12 inning game in Toronto where just about everyone pitched.
So, i don’t think it’s “stupid” that he’s seeing so many LHers so much as he’s simply pitching where it doesn’t really matter. Girardi is using him to save the rest of his arms. He’ll probably be DFA’ed soon enough. Until then, I’d worry about Joba or someone else who actually gets high leverage innings.
@Steve, he’s been using as mopup because he’s been beat up. His usage at the beginning of the season suggested Girardi would use him to set up Joba/Mo.
Nomaas was also on the “BRIAN BRUNEY WILL TURN IT AROUND GUYS!” train. Hey, he’s available now, isn’t he? If he gets a second stint maybe he can wear the Yanks hat into the Hall!
I’m amazed at the utter lack of reading comprehension from people like anon.
Where in this article does NoMaas sound like ardent supporters of Chan Ho Park? They critiqued Cashman for signing him to begin with. All this says is that he’s not as bad as how he’s been pitching.
Thank you, Frederick.
People probably didn’t even read the whole article or else they would have seen:
“One cannot strike out nearly 7.5 MLB batters per nine innings, maintain an above-average K/BB rate, and suck.”
That’s pretty much the jist of the article. If people still feel the need to argue that point, well, then it’s probably not worth the time and effort to convince them.
@Steve, he’s been using as mopup because he’s been beat up. His usage at the beginning of the season suggested Girardi would use him to set up Joba/Mo
Not sure i understand your point. CHoP had a great season in relief last year, looked sharp in the World Series, had a perfect ST. So at the beginning of the season, he got a few high leverage situations. Since he has pitched poorly, Girardi has rightfully moved him down the totem pole.
Everything is as it should be. He will probably be DFA’ed soon once the trade market starts opening up a little. The Yankees took a low cost gamble, and it didn’t work out. Not really seeing the big deal.
The point of my original post was that Girardi wasn’t leaving him in to face left handed hitters in high leverage situations. He is letting him face left handed hitters when the game is already decided. Which is also not a big deal.
I still think you suck are wrong NoMaas. And this is the real JoeThunder.
Before I begin with my anti-Vizzini rant, I want all of you to understand something first – this is not spontaneous. I have been a fan of NoMaas for years, and I guess I foolishly hold a fanblog to a higher standard than, let’s say, ESPN.com. Through the years, NoMaas has rarely disappointed, but since NoMaas handed Vizzini a WordPress account, the quality of analysis and writing has suffered – and alarmingly so. Lazy writing, boring photoshops, and logical leaps are mainstays in all of Vizzini’s posts. As a 40 year-old male with no girlfriend, no life, and nothing better to do, I have decided to attack this douchebag’s post FJM style.
“NoMaas was skeptical of the Chan Ho Park signing.”
Enjoy this sentence. Though it is incredibly elementary and fails at grabbing the attention of the reader, it is the most coherent sentence Vizzini has ever written.
“From a statistical standpoint, it looked like the Yankees were latching onto a small sample size (~50IP) where Park both pitched reasonably well (2.2 K/BB) and also got lucky (6% HR/FB).”
This is just bad writing. Any 6th grader can point out the numerous grammatical errors and stylistic no-no’s in this sentence. Let’s ignore the verbose and useless transition “From a statistical standpoint” and focus on the rest of the atrocity that is this sentence. “it looked like the Yankees were latching onto a small sample size”
1. You are writing in the past tense. Why couldn’t you simply continue onward with “the Yankees latched”
2. Why the fuck would you even use the word latching? If this is a poor attempt at a metaphor, than by God sir, by God. For a moment in time, were you unable to use the letters R-E-L and Y?
“where Park both pitched reasonably well (2.2 K/BB) and also got lucky (6% HR/FB).”
“Where” refers to a place. A small sample size isn’t a place. Only in the imaginary world of Vizzini can a small sample size be a place. The correct word choice in this instance would probably be “in which”, douchebag.
“But, Brian Cashman’s scouts told him that Chan Ho was a different pitcher in relief.”
Brian Cashman’s scouts? Do these scouts belong to Brian Cashman? Also, didn’t you just say that it appeared that the Yankees were “latching” on to a small sample size? Are you contradicting your point by presenting, I don’t know, evidence that the Yankees had more than just stats? Like *gasp* scouting? At this point any competent writer would realize, “holy shit, I should rearrange my opening paragraph”, not Vizzini. And again with improper tense usage… IS a different pitcher in relief. Scouts TOLD HIM that Chan Ho IS a different pitcher in relief. Holy shit.
“Cash said Relief Ho had a “plus-fastball and a snap-dragon breaking ball” coming out of the pen.”
HAS. HAS. NOT HAD. HAS.
“So, how’s it looking so far?”
Piss-poor, lazy writing.
“On the surface, it’s been an unmitigated disaster. Even after pitching two scoreless innings on Tuesday night vs. Seattle, Chan Ho has a 6.48 ERA in 25 IP. And to the Yankee fan watching game in game out, it seems even worse than that because Park has blown up in some key high-leverage situations.”
So you argue that you were skeptical of the Yankees because you felt the Yankees based the Chan-Ho Park signing on a “small-sample size” yet, you arrive at your conclusion that it appears to be an unmitigated disaster “on the surface” after 25IP?
You’re such a terrible writer that the only way I can understand what you are saying is by taking what you say literally – which is dangerous. That second sentence brought up an image of Chan-Ho Park blowing up, which I guess is what you intended with your shitty metaphor usage. And dude, what’s the deal with redundancy? High-leverage situations are inherently “key situations” so shut the fuck up. Pick one.
“But, there are reasons to think Cashman might not end up wiping egg drop soup off his face come October.”
You have turrets. I’m convinced. You start every sentence with a shitty transition that the sentence would be better without – you are not funny, by the way.
“First, underneath Relief Ho’s grotesque ERA lies a 4.10 xFIP (before Tuesday night) — pretty much the same as in his triumphant 2009 season. In fact, he has an excellent 3.2 K/BB ratio, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see him improve on his 40% groundball rate. His HR/FB rate is an unlucky 19.4%, and that will come down towards his career average (12.2%). Consequently, he will likely start stranding at least 70% of his runners, instead of the current 63%.”
Vizzini is psychic everyone. I wonder if he foresaw how shitty this article turned out to be.
“Overall, the Ho Train is not the diamond in the rough that Cashman was hoping he had found.”
Your metaphors are shitty and uninteresting. Writing in the passive voice is lazy. You suck.
“But, he’s also not the national tragedy he’s looked like to date.”
TURRETS!!
What in God’s name is “turrets”? Do you, by chance, mean Tourette Syndrome?
You have turrets.
Do you mean TOURETTE SYNDROME?
Or do you mean that Vizzini literally lives in a castle with numerous gun turrets?
For someone that just spent way too long ripping on someone else’s grammar, this is fairly amusing.
Point. Maybe I should have proofread :P He’s still a shitty writer. If not running spellcheck was his biggest problem I wouldn’t bother.
If not running spellcheck was his biggest problem I wouldn’t bother.
————
Tell me about it.
Koreans eat egg drop soup??? Yeah right, I WISH!
Arf!
@Edit Vizzini:
Great rant.
But why the fuck give FJM all the credit? What’s this “in the style of FJM?” isn’t it in the style of high school English/writing class?
By the way, who’s your favorite Yankee?
Spot the real JoeThunder:
the only guy who actually answered Lori Rubinson.
Fredrick: “I’m amazed at the utter lack of reading comprehension from people like anon. Where in this article does NoMaas sound like ardent supporters of Chan Ho Park?”
Where did I say that? All I was saying was, considering Nomaas was touting Brian Bruney as a viable ML reliever as recent as 3 years ago, perhaps we can question their credibility when it comes to evaluating relief pitching. A very general statement that makes no mention of CHP. But thanks for playing.
ho will always be ho! just got to ride em harder, peace!
i just said to billy we should go surfing some day… Billy dives, Josh surf’s… my bad… having trouble keeping my boys in line haha
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